Backlight the cocktail de jour – a palate searing vodka martini – with your friend’s Mororola razr mobile phone. I can report that the price of banana vodka has not changed at Borsch, Vodka & Tears (173 Chapel St, Prahran +61 9530 2694). This is one of the best bars on Chapel to drop in [...]
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Check out the curves The Windsor end of Chapel Street is where everything is happening. The cool shops chased out of St Kilda are now here. Pubs are being refurbished and restaurants, bars, cafés and restaurants are sprouting on what was once a daggy strip. Drink (with an address I can’t remember or find) is [...]
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Trampoline, now with seven stores, is the cool new name in gelato in Melbourne. Eventually it will make it to Sydney as part of a plan to open 40 stores. You can look forward to Iced Vo-Vo, Lickrish, Open Sesame, Peanut Nutter, Spotty Dog and Choc Therapy. You can check out the story here. You [...]
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Are you a chef with vanilla ice cream for desert on any menu? Good I’m glad I’ve found you. Because I’m going to hunt you down, your family down and you children’s children down and force feed them vanilla ice cream. Whatever vanilla ice cream is served with, apple pie, tamarillos, the most gorgeous chocolate [...]
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Yes, it is young. But the 2004 pinot noir from Pier 10 on the Mornington Peninsula isn’t a bad dop. At 14 per cent alcohol it is strong but not in an over-the-top way; you won’t need to add water to it to make it drinkable. It’s full bodied with those wonderful apple-like flavours that [...]
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Well big and little m’s efforts at World Cup and Plate of matching food and drink through the world cup put my efforts to shame. Of 32 countries they ate 24 different cousines in 31 days. Australia vs Italy. Italy wins. Lucky beer and the swollen liver. I’m losing it. Japan pisses all over Australia. [...]
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A weekend drinking tip thanks to Kate from Sydney, down the pub, Friday night: We’ve all had the problem, a night on the full-on smack in the mouth Aussie Shiraz and red teeth the next day. Accoriding to the girls hanging out in a certain Sydney pub loo you start the night with Shiraz and [...]
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Hot goss. Uber Morrocan chef Greg Malouf has sold out of his high end city restaurant Momo to Jamie Oliver, who is (I think) about to hit town. Apparently, the deal will be announced announced later this week. REMEMBER: You read it on Tomato first! More chef Gossip: Who created a kitchen nightmare for local [...]
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These are some of my favourites with made with corn (excluding polenta, which is another story) for Weekend Herb Blogging#40 (devised by Kalyn) this month hosted at My life as a reluctant house wife. 1. Simply boiled but as a healthy alternative to butter try extra virgin olive oil, the best you can find. Sprinkly [...]
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Ingredients One sheet frozen puff pastry Two apples A couple of tablespoons of icing sugar Perhaps it takes 20 minutes with cooking. But it only takes 5 minutes of preparation to make something that a smart patisserie would be proud of. And certainly you can impress your friends. I was hoping I would find some [...]
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Barbeques should be used year round, Vivi’s right. As host of Wine Blogging Wednesday#23 Vivi’s set the challenge of matching wines with barbeque food. Last night I wasn’t barbequeing but there was a lot of griddled (broiled) meat on the menu while out at supper. One two inch thick porterhouse, a similarly thick eye fillet [...]
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Man found in Sydney with 161 cookbooks by Sydney Morning Herald. Unpleasant things in restaurants from The Australian. Literary editor turns chef and writes great book about it. You can buy it too. From The Observer. Wimbledon and Gordon Ramsay’s strawberry recipes from The Times. Things to do with anchovies from The Independent. Everything you [...]
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Three years ago I went on a boozy winery tour with a busload of artist mates. Somehow along the way I managed not only to buy two small olive trees, but also two magnificent French oak wine barrels to plant…
There’s a rumour that Melbourne hospitals lay on extra staff in the Emergency Department at this time of year. Yes, it's tomato season and given our vast migrant population, there will invariably be a few home-bottling and canning disasters. Every Italian…
Making yoghurt at home is really simple and doesn't take much science. Here we make two different styles of yoghurt using both cows' and goats' milk.
It took four hours of a Saturday afternoon to construct this gigantic pie.
The recipes available are all pretty similar, three different types of pork with herbs and spices surrounded by jelly and encased in a hot water pastry. This one…
There's a lot of meat and fat in a pork pie including the hot crust pastry which is made with lard and butter.
I bought a whole tub of dripping, which is basically like lard (pig fat) but from beef, as…
Five days later and the bacon is cured. Salty and sweet, with a hint of juniper and sage, it was worth it.
Nothing is ever easy for me. Frustrated by the poor quality of filling and pastry in local pork…
Recent journalismWe don't see much innovation in cookbooks nowadays but The Family Meal: Home Cooking with Ferran Adria is as you'd expect from one of the world's most innovative chefs.
What most…
Consult a financial adviser before drinking from a Riedel.
Dishwasher tablets erode your glasses and crockery. Use liquid instead.
Decant heavier reds at least 8 hours before drinking.
If you want to drink…
Three years ago I went on a boozy winery tour with a busload of artist mates. Somehow along the way I managed not only to buy two small olive trees,…
There’s a rumour that Melbourne hospitals lay on extra staff in the Emergency Department at this time of year. Yes, it's tomato season and given our vast migrant population, there…
Making yoghurt at home is really simple and doesn't take much science. Here we make two different styles of yoghurt using both cows' and goats' milk.
One of the most exciting chefs to be in town for the Sydney International Food Festival was the witty and erudite David Thompson. If you aren't familiar with Thompson, the…
I recently had a non-brush with death while eating what turned out not to be my last meal.
It made me think of all the meals I'd wasted. A bad…
Neil Perry (left), Thomas Keller and Heston Blumenthal (bald). Courtesy of the Melbourne Wine and Food Festival.
On the SBS Food site you can see my story on meeting Thomas Keller…
Typical. Just as the world peaked Paul Levi, the man who had no small part in bringing us the slightly dubious word “Foodie”, launches the Gastrosexual, a man with more…
With thanks to the Melbourne Food and Wine Festival.
It's 3.50 on a Friday afternoon. I've just finished a great meal cooked by Scott Pickett at The Point in Albert Park…
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